Lilypond incorrectly displaying natural signs in B Major

Question

My hymn is in B-Major, so I set the key-signature accordingly \key b \major but the problem is that it causes LOTS of natural signs.

Do I really need those? This hymn is for children and the naturals make it look complicated. The piece I am transcribing was hand written and does not show the naturals.

If I don't really need them, how do I remove them? And will it mess up the organist?

global = {
    \time 8/8
    \tempo 4=90
    \key b \major
}

melody = \relative c' {
    \global
    \partial 8
    f8 b4 a8[ g] f2 d8[ e] d8~c8 b4. b8 e4 e8~f8 g4 e4 b'4 g8 e8 f2   
}

Sorry for the confusion over the time signature. Although it was incorrect before it does not affect my question nor my problem. But here is a more complete measure with some code.

Answer 1

I'm assuming you are turning a hand- written score into a digital one.

You're problem is that you have written this:

f8 b4 a8[ g] f2

The key signature shows that F, A, and G need to be sharped, but you've written then as naturals. Try this:

fis8 b4 ais8[ gis] fis2

The "-is" tells Lilypond that you want that note sharped, an "-es" tells Lilypond that you want a note flat.

Lilypond doesn't automatically assume that you want it sharp because it isn't uncommon that a composer wants a note to be natural in a piece when the key signature says it should be sharped.

If you are listening to a recorded song, you have not picked to correct key signature (Try C).

You might also want to take a look here.

Answer 2

My first guess would be that you are actually writing in Bb major rather than B major and are omitting that fact from LilyPond (in that case, the key signature would be \key bes \major and have a single flat). Bb major would be a much more common key to use.

In this case, your file would likely just need

\language "deutsch"

on top, interpreting all occurences of b as bes. However, given that your location is Kansas, I consider it more likely that you just left off any accidentals. If your original key was supposed to be Bb major (and your organist will like you better than if it was supposed to be B major), just write bes instead of b. Or start the file with

\language "english"

and write bf (short for B flat) instead of b.

If this is really B major, almost any note except the B itself needs to be sharp. Look up note names in the LilyPond manual. Note that the note names spelled out in the music are independent from any key signature: if you want to hear a C sharp, you have to write its name no matter what the key signature is.

It might make sense for you to generate MIDI output (check the manual for that) in order to proofhear the music you have been typing.